The Two Americas of John Edwards
Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Blog / Commentary by IARCWith the salacious and sad details streaming forth every day about John Edwards and his mistress, one cannot feel anything but sadness for his wife, who is fighting cancer while her philandering and lying husband has his mistress and child move to a community close to where they currently live.
Edwards, a former Senator, nominee for Vice President in 2004, and Presidential candidate in 2008, promised his mistress he would marry her after his wife died, a gruesome and chilling statement. It demonstrates Mr. Edwards has no heart or compassion for the woman who was loyal to him, brought his children into this world, and is fighting cancer. One can only wonder what she must be thinking as he planned for a new life and new family while she was still alive.
This brings us back to the “Two Americas” and the humble beginnings he and his family had in South Carolina, which he so often and famously spoke of on the campaign trail. The Two Americas to him were irreparably divided between the haves and have-nots. This populist theme he so often weaved into his slick, trial lawyer-speeches were meant to show his empathy with the “common man,” that he was cut from the same cloth, he knew their trials and tribulations and sympathized with them. He was one of them. That is to say, he had a heart, unlike his conservative opponents, who were heartless and could neither understand nor appreciate their hardships.
In reality, we now can look back and know Mr. Edwards’s speeches were nothing but empty rhetoric. As conservatives know, compassion is shown not by words but through deeds, by our everyday actions toward our fellow human beings. This is especially true of how we treat our friends and family, and those who trust in us. In this regard, there are indeed Two Americas. In one America, there are husbands and wives who are faithful to one another, work hard everyday at jobs that may not particularly like, visit a place of worship as often as they can, and ensure they instill the right moral values in their children. This is the America of suburbia, summer barbecues, lifelong friendships and memories. This is the America we live in.
The other America is the self-centered one, where affairs destroy marriages and families, morality is ignored for financial gain, where celebrities are worshiped and soldiers’ sacrifices are forgotten. This is the America of Wall Street collapses and seven-figure bonuses, Bernie Madoff, and Jon without Kate … This is the America of John Edwards.
